Come Home
by Cyana Shan
Summary: AU. Little moment Anakin share with his loved one from the battlefield.


Anakin wrapped himself in his Jedi coat, trying to cover most part of his body from the rain, as he made his way toward the tent he normally shared with Ahsoka. To his relief, the rainproof tent wasn't far from the temporary commanding post. Anakin quickly took off the coat, which was half destroyed by the rain, and threw it in a corner. A groan escaped the young general's throat. Vingo's inhospitable climate was mentionned in the report that general Mundi gave him; aggressive fauna and cannibal flora, moving swamp, furious winds, dark sky full of lightening... but acied rain wasn't part of it. As a result, almost all of the 501e legion's equipment were hidden or had molten when they arrived.

The young man lay down on his bedroll, exhausted. He closed his eyes, listening to the rain ponding on the roof of the tent. It was constant and monotone, but soothing. _Padmé's presence is sooting too..._ A smile appeared on his lips at the thought of his beautiful and wonderful wife. His hand abstractly picked up the small Jedi holoprojector he let on the side of his bedroll, for emergency case. Anakin sensing everything around him to be sure that no one could hear then switched it on.

The prettiest woman of the galaxy appeared on the holo. She had unbreaded her long, wave-like hair that now cascaded in her back, hidding the part of her back's skin that wasn't covered by her simple and loose -yet delightful- nightgown. A young girl sat on her laps, playing with some space ship toys while the woman brushed her brown locks, crooning a wonderful song of her home planet. Anakin's eyes soften with immeasurable love as he watched them, listening tenderly at the woman's beautiful singing. _You still unaware that I actually comm you, Angel..._

The young girl's brown haired head lifted up suddenly, like if she had heard his trail of thought. Her brown eyes gazed around frantically, searching something she couldn't see... but only sense. The her hologrraphic eyes met his.

"Daddy!" screamed the little girl. She bunced up on her heels and ran toward the table, grabbing the hologram.

Anakin chuckled, "Hello, Princess. How are you?"

"Great! Today was my first school day. Althrough it was quite boring since it was the casual presentaion, it allowed me to make two friends!" she said, puffing her little chest proudly.

"Really? That's good."

She crossed one arm under the other, noding her head with pride and joy. "Yep! Oh and you should have seen Luke's face when the teacher..."

She continued to talk to him about her daily life, where he should be part of, taking care of his children and love his wife like she deserved, not far away fighting in an endless war for a corrupt Senate full of greedy, selfish politicians. On the corner of the holo, the young general saw the beautiful woman stood from the couch and walked by the young girl side. Anakin just listened what his Princess had to say, smiling. At some point, he just admired the woman. _No, not all politicians are greedy ans selfish..._ The young girl quickly grabbed his attention back.

"... Oh! oh! And yesterday, Luke had almost threw all the soup at Mommy!"

At this, Anakin laughed. He remembered that his son could be so clumsy -like himself when he was younger- sometimes and it had grew since the twins had discovered that they can use the Force. It was recent -maybe a month or two- so they couldn't control their power very well since he wasn't with them enough to began their training.

"Is that true, Milady?" he asked, looking at the beautiful woman next to his daughter.

Padmé smiled. "Yes..." A long pause followed her affirmation, both of them looking at each other with a longing that the war kept take from them.

Clearing her throat, she finally spoke, "Leia, can you go play with your brother? I need to talk with daddy."

"Oki douki!" and she ran out of the holo field view, screaming something like 'Lukey, Lukey, where are you? I want to play with you!'

He chuckled, leaning his head down on a pillow, the hologram still in his hand. When he looked up at her holoform, all of her appeared so tired all of a sudden. A frown masked her natural _,_ perfect face. Her smile had been replaced by a thin line. Her normally glowing chocolate brown eyes were filled with worry and... fear?

"What?" he asked softly, confused.

"You're hurt..."

Her face had lost all it colors, he could tell by the way she looked at him. More confused then before, Anakin looked down at his body, searching for any sign of injuries. He only saw parts of his robes half destroyed due to the rain... Then her worry hit him. "No, no, I'm not hurt. It just the rain..."

"The rain?! Anakin... is it acid rain?" her eyes were wide open, her original fear grew into a half terror. _Kriff, I shouldn't have said that..._

"Yes...but I swear that I'm fine. Our equipment is rainproof." he lied, at least about their equipment; only the tents were rainproof. He didn't want to freak her out until he came back. She had already too much on her shoulder right now, no way he would had to her worries.

"Then promise me that you won't do something stupid."

Anakin chuckled again, then smirked "Nah, Obi-Wan isn't there so I can't annoy him with that."

"Ani..." she trailed off in warning, resting her head in her left hand so he couldn't see her smiling at his banter.

"Fine. I won't." he finally conceded dramatically, rolling his eyes exaggeratedly. When she nodded, he felt the need to add something, so he did, "You took all the fun away, not cool."

She giggled at his childishness than shook her head at him, smiling lovingly. He put his arm behind his head and extended his legs on the coat in a much more comfortable position.

"So, what do you want to talk about? No gossip, please. I know I'm fairlyhandsome but I'm tired of hearing people talk about me."

She rolled her eyes playfully "What I'm going to do with you..."

"Don't know. Let me kiss you when I came back?" Like he expected, she looked down with a small smile and by the act, he knew she was blushing. Shaking her head, she went on with the conversation. They talked for at least an hour or so. To him, every subject that they picked what interesting not only because most of the topics were about the twins, but bacause it came from his angel.

He heard the familiar voices of clones coming and so did she. Neither talked for a while, not wanting to drew the clones's attention. They just stared at another, burying the other's face in their memory like if it was the last time they saw each other, which surely could happen in war time... Still Anakin was sure of at least one thing: he missed her and loved her dearly. It hurt him to not be able to hold her in his arms when she slept, to distract her when she couldn't find the end of some project or just be with her...

"You are so... beautiful"

She laughed softly, her head tilted down, blushing. "That was sweet..."

"Maybe. But I'm just telling the truth."

She shook her head at him and the most beautiful smile he had ever seen stretched her lips. "You're _still_ adorable, Ani..."

Anakin's sense rang in his head, warning him that someone approached his tent. Immersing himself into the Force for a brief instant, he found Ahsoka's force-signature.

"Ahsoka's coming. I have to hang up, even if I don't want to."

Her face saddened immeditely. "I know..." His hand reached her holoform, holding it like if it was her. Like if she was still in front of him and not far away on Coruscant. " Please come home soon. I miss you... _we_ miss you."

"I miss you three too. And yes, I will..." he traled off, smiling sadely. "And Angel?"

Padmé smiled a little at the pet name. "Yes?"

"I love you."


End file.
